The Fire Sermon

I have been writing love songs lately, specifically about the kinds of romantic love that burn. Namely, all of them. When we first enter a new relationship we are filled with burning desire. Sometimes we later take those same relationships for granted and seemingly burn right through them. At the end we might find ourselves literally burning old love notes, or simply bridges, which turns out to be an excellent time to listen to that fire in our bellies. Hit the road, see something new, spend time on ourselves before striking a new match.

This album and these songs are partially my story, partially your story, partially his story, and partially her story. THE FIRE SERMON presents ten brand new songs, each of them about relationships in different places, while also suggesting a larger album-long narrative for the listener to discover.

This past summer while backpacking in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming I spent several afternoon thunderstorms huddled in the tent, trying to make some sense of the lengthy and heavily-annotated poem, The Wasteland, by T.S. Eliot. (I’d needed a really light book for the sake of the weight on my back, but light reading it was not.) I was particularly taken with the third section of the poem, entitled “The Fire Sermon”, with endnotes informing me that the name was taken from “a sermon by the Buddha denouncing the fires of passion, hatred, and infatuation with which the senses burn.” At the very end of the section Eliot simply repeats, “Burning burning burning burning.”

While the album has been recorded and paid for up to this point, there is much to pay for yet, including:

As for the pre-order and the other associated rewards, there are a couple of exciting things worth pointing out:

* All orders (with the exception of the digital-only $10 level) will come with a special 8-song EP which will only be available to Kickstarter backers. This EP features 6 alternate acoustic versions of songs from the new record, and 2 entirely new songs that did not make the cut this time around. Half of them are solo and the other half feature Melissa McGinley (The Stereofidelics) on fiddle and harmonies. These recordings will never be released in any other fashion.

* You will notice a limited amount of earlybird-priced copies of both the CD and LP (vinyl). Save $3 on either and order early!